


i will be all you need

by solar_celeste



Series: we’ll build this love [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adopted Children, Bullying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Harley Keener Needs a Hug, Harley Keener is a Good Bro, Harley is 13, Kid Harley Keener, Kid Peter Parker, Peter is 4, Precious Peter Parker, in 8th grade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22565281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solar_celeste/pseuds/solar_celeste
Summary: Harley's been off-kilter recently. Tony can't decide if its puberty or something he should be concerned about.Either way, Peter's oblivious.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Harley Keener, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: we’ll build this love [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1484285
Comments: 14
Kudos: 280





	i will be all you need

**Author's Note:**

> I am an absolute failure when it comes to deadlines.
> 
> Instead of finishing this in January (like I had promised) I wrote it, decided I didn't like it, deleted it, and wrote it again. 
> 
> FYI, the italics are memories from Tony's childhood. 
> 
> Also, dictation works for shit.

Tony was beginning to become convinced that his life had turned into a fairytale. For the first month after the adoption, there seemed to be nothing wrong. Sure, there were moments that Tony was completely lost -how did one parent anyway?- but besides those few times, everything was running rather smoothly. The boys never fought with one another, something that Tony had never been concerned with, but they hadn’t fought with him either. Peter never threw any toddler tantrums, not even a hint of the horror shows Tony had seen other little kids perform. Harley too never seemed to exhibit any sense of the teenage rebellion that Tony had so outwardly expressed when he had been the boy’s age. It was relieving. 

Tony’s biggest fear had been that the adoption wouldn’t go through. Infact, he had been so obsessed with that that he hadn’t even spared a moment to consider what would happen  _ after  _ the papers were signed. He never stopped to consider that he had to take Harley to school, that he would be alone with Peter all day until the boy was old enough to attend himself. He never thought about the therapy visits or how the social worker would have to stay in touch and pop by until six months had passed. He had been naive, with his head stuck in the clouds. 

He had needed to adapt rather quickly, first with Peter getting sick and then with developing a daily routine. Their therapist had been adamant in doing that, claiming that it was one of the most crucial aspects of raising children. After all of that was more or less taken care of, he had to enroll Harley in school.

And that was when his Disney movie turned into a Grim Brother’s story. 

Harley had been recalcitrant and moody the moment Tony had first mentioned school, something the older man had not at all been expecting. He had thought that the teen would have been ecstatic to go to a nice school, to have the ability to learn endless amounts of new things for the next five years. Science, math, learning- those were some of Harley’s favorite things. 

Tony had brought it up to the therapist over a phone session, trying to figure out what about school had caused such a sudden change in attitude. She advised that he talk to Harley about the social aspect of school, since that was most likely what was stressing the boy out the most and causing the mood change. That however, stressed  _ Tony. _

Howard Stark had never been the most hands on father, not in the emotional sense anyway, leaving Tony with a head more dense than a cinder brick. He wasn’t the best at receiving social cues, not ones from those that he was closest to anyway. Sure, he was much better in formal circumstances - _ had  _ to be with who he was and what he did- but he was one of the most emotionally constipated people to ever walk the face of the Earth. Or so, people told him. 

During their college days, Rhodey had always made jokes and jabs about how Tony was probably secretly a robot or something of the like. He would ramble on about the different software that Howard would have built into his little android son, trying to make him a carbon copy of himself. It had all been good natured and the boys had both laughed, adding little details to their story. Tony had never told Rhodey, but there had been a few times he had dreamt about a world where that was all true. Some nights even, he had had nightmares of his father leaning over him, sharps tools nearby as he strapped Tony to a surgical table.

As he grew older and the jokes continued, Tony began to wonder if there even was any difference between an android and himself. He had almost convinced himself that there wasn’t by the time the boys came around. Their arrival had changed all of that. 

As it turned out, Tony was much less emotionally stunted than everyone had thought. When Harley had made his first appearance in Tony’s life, the man had taken immediate interest but everyone had assumed it was in the boys intelligence, not the child himself. When Tony had taken the boy in after the fire, they had all re-considered. 

When Peter had come into the picture, reality flipped. 

It was more obvious than ever at that point in time that there was this certain, stubborn fire blazing in Tony, a heat so intense that no one else dared to touch it. They went along with it, hoping that the boys were enough to finally melt Tony’s frozen heart. 

It was obvious to anyone that cared to look that they were. Even if there were moments when words were said and the tension grew so thick it could be cut into rations, the fire blazed on. 

“He did  _ what _ ?” Tony hissed into his cell, the documents before him completely forgotten. 

“The altercation had started as verbal, Mr.Stark,” the principle on the other end of the line was quick to add. “The situation didn’t escalate to physical until Harley stepped in.”

Tony sighed, scrubbing a hand across his face. His eldest had been acting out all week: refusing to complete his assignments or clean his room when Tony had (and rather nicely) asked and it was beginning to become rather old.

One thing was for sure, Harley definitely wasn’t afraid of misbehaving in front of Tony anymore and, though that was a show of the major progress they had made, he felt a small knot of dread growing in his chest. 

“Did he get hurt?” Tony found himself asking. If it were his father in his shoes, that question would not have even been thought.

“No, sir. Harley was the only one to get violent.”

_ Violent _ . Tony thought that was a little much, it wasn’t like Harley had gone and killed anyone, he had thrown a punch. Violent sounded too meniachle, too angry for someone with Harley’s usual demeanor. Tony didn’t like the sound of it and he  _ especially  _ didn’t like the principle using the term to describe his son.

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” Tony promised, ending the call. 

He had only sat down to get some headway on work about twenty minutes prior, just after he had finally coaxed Peter into a nap. The toddler had been almost more aggravating than his brother, if in a different way. It had been obvious from the start that the boys had some severe form of separation anxiety and the older of the two being gone seven hours each day did little to soothe those nerves. Peter had been a bundle of tears and “no”s since the start of the school year. And now he had to wake him up.

Harley was going to be getting an earful, that was for sure. There was enough spotlight on the Starks without schoolyard fights and that was something that Tony  _ really  _ didn’t need reaching the press. The news of the boys’ adoption had only just started to calm down, they didn’t need something else so soon.

Tony clicked off his computer screen with a sigh before re-stacking his papers. He would have to submit the documents even later but there was no other option. He headed out of his home office and down the hall to Peter’s room. 

The boy lay in his small toddler bed (something that was only used during naps or nights were Tony was out) bundles in StarWars sheets and an Iron Man blanket the boy had recently become attached to. The bedding didn’t match, not even by a long shot, but if it made the boy happy then Tony could ignore it. 

“Pete,” he whispered. Tony crouched next to the bed and stroked some of the boy’s wayward curls from his eyes. “Peter, buddy. Wake up.” 

The toddler groaned, rolling over and blinking open large chocolate eyes. They were bleary from sleep, his cheeks flushed and rosy. 

“Hey there, Peter Pan,” Tony said. “Have a nice nap?” The boy nodded in response, mumbling incoherently as he reached up for his adoptive father. Tony grabbed him under the arms, swinging him around playfully to wake him up some more. Peter giggled, shrieking as he spun.

“M’flying! M’flying!” He yelped, laughter bubbling. Tony smiled, glad to have a little pick-up after his most recent phone call. 

“Want to go get Harley?” Tony asked, pulling Peter back into his arms and heading to the boys dresser for some clean pants and a stainless shirt.

“Early?” Peter’s eyes were wide with hope and a little amazement, Tony  _ never  _ let them go get Harley early. 

“Yeah, sure,” Tony shrugged his shoulders, trying to act nonchalantly. They really had anything quite like this happen before and the man was a little wary of how Peter would act to finding out his older brother was in any type of trouble- particularly considering their past. 

Tony made quick work of changing Peter and grabbing the boys go-bag before scooping up the child and heading to the elevator. 

“We gonna get ice cweam?” Peter asked, head bobbing as Tony walked. It was a sort of tradition that they had started, getting ice cream every Friday after they picked Harley up from school.

“Not today, kiddo,” Tony said. He didn’t look at the boy, somewhat fearful of big puppy eyes and unlocked the car.

“B’why?” Peter asked sadly.

“Cuz it’s Thursday.” Tony answered.” Tomorrows Friday, bud.”

“Oh,” Peter said, tilting his head. “Kay.”

God, Tony loved this kid. 

*

Tony didn’t know what to think as he pulled into Midtown’s parking lot. Should he be mad, understanding, indifferent? How would Howard have acted and how can he do the exact opposite of that? What if it was all a misunderstanding and Harley wasn’t at fault. What if he was? 

Harsher times flashed through Tony’s mind.  _ His father's alcohol infused spittle raining down on him as he was yelled at for breaking his robotics project. _

_ “But he pushed me!”  _

_ “You were the one holding it, Anthony!” _

Tony had really been lucky on the whole lack of need for disciplinary thus far. He sighed, ran a tired hand down his overgrown stubble and turned off the car.

*

Schools really hadn’t changed much in the last thirty years because this school looked just the same as the one that Tony had attended right before his father had decided that a Stark was above the city school system. Though a little more modern, the layout was the same and the somewhat depressing atmosphere was surely radiating through the halls. Tony adjusted his hold on Peter and turned left into the main office. 

“Here for Harley Stark, sir?” The middle aged lady behind the desk asked, tucking a curl behind her ear and scrolling through something on the monitor before her. 

“Yes,” the billionaire answered. His attention drifted to the arrant shoe he could see just beyond the doorway to an attached room. It was red with white trim and most definitely the ones Tony had just purchased for his son the previous weekend. “Can I go see him?” 

The woman didn’t respond for a moment, merrily clicked at the computer without indicating she had heard him. “Right through that door,” she finally said, pointing at the shoe. Tony nodded, already on his way. 

Peter wiggled, eager to be out down and still not quite understanding the gravity of the situation. If the man was being honest, Tony didn’t actually understand himself. 

Harley looked more pissed than anything, once Tony was able to see him. He sat slouching in his chair, arms crossed and glare hard set on the wall across him. The tension in the air must have been strong enough for even Peter to sense, because he didn’t say a word. 

There was another boy in the office as well, sitting in nearly the same position as Harley: Slouched and glaring. This kid though, had a small smirk on his face, one that was easy for Tony to recognize. Beside the other boy sat a…. “well kept” mother.

Tony knows immediately what kind of situation this is. He had been in situations just like this all throughout his childhood only here on the other hand hand hand dad back them up.Instead Tony had been forced to separate a loan always being blamed because he had absolutely no witnesses.

Sitting down next to his oldest son and trying to act nonchalant, Tony grins a little bit too cheerfully at the principle.

“So,” he says, not waiting for the others to start. “I heard there was a little conflict?”

_ “What has he done wrong this time?” _

_ “Dad, I didn’t -” _

_ “Zip it.” _

The woman across from where he was sitting immediately snapped to attention. She looked personally offended at his use of words and Tony if were none the wiser he would have thought that she had been in a fight herself. The woman glared, pointing one of her carefully manicured fingers accusingly at him.

“Your son,” she screeched, “hit my son for absolutely no reason at all!” 

“Is that so?” Tony asked. Next to him, Harley looked on with wide eyes, not believing that his father was taking the side of the other teen. Not like Harley had been expecting a certain outcome anyway, but the betrayal was shocking. As well as more than a little hurtful. 

“If I may,” the principal interjects, “I would like to hear both sides of the story. Jonah if you would go first please?” The man asked, turning to the other boy. Tony would like to think the principal was indifferent, but in his history no authority figure had ever been so kind to a Stark.

“I wasn’t even doing anything,” the kid says, waving his hands for dramatic effect. “I was just talking to my friends when all of a sudden  _ Mr. Hotshot  _ over here walks over and clubs me in the nose.”

Not subtly whatsoever, Harley snorts besides Tony.

“There wasn’t anything you might have said to anger Mr. Stark over here?” The principal asked, head tilted to the side questioningly. He had obviously seen Harley’s reaction. Tony was beginning to like him a little more.

Avoiding the question, the kid answered: “It’s not even his business what I was saying. It wasn’t like I was talking to him in the first place anyway. I wasn’t insulting him to his face or anything.”

“But  _ were  _ you insulting him?” The principal asked. Tony stayed quiet, a tactic that seems to be working and one that he should’ve used when he was much younger.

“No!” The kid screeched, sounding identical to his mother. “I wasn’t saying anything about him! But he just sees reason to come and hit me!” The principal hummed in response. Next to the red faced boy, his mother looked pleased with how the situation is being handled.Tony made it his mission to keep that look short lasting.

“And Harley? Do you see things the same way? Or is there something that has been left out?” Harley looked around anxiously, all his previous stupor gone. His shoulders were no longer tight with the earlier anger and he seemed hesitant to give up any information. He sent a quick glance over to Peter who was unaware of the conversation around him as he played with the zipper on Tony’s jacket. Tony gave the teen an encouraging look.

“He knows what he did,” Harley finally said. There isn’t any reason for me to say it all again.”

“But you  _ are _ saying that he said something?” The principal asked.

“Of course he said something,” Harley exclaimed. “He says a lot of things.”

_ “So you ignore it. Grow a backbone already and start acting like part of the family.” _

_ “I’m sorry.”  _

_ “Don’t apologize, just be better. Starks are made of iron, Anthony. Not glass.” _

“Like what, kiddo?” Tony pushed. 

“Like everything!” Harley said, throwing his hands in the air. “He’s been saying everything since day one. He hates us, me in particular and ever since the day of the adoption things have been ten times worse. I tried to put up with it I really have, but he just took things a step too far today.”

Tony reached over to rub his adopted sons back, looking up quickly to send a glare towards the other family.

“What did he say?” He asked gently. The principle leaned over to hear Harley’s barely eligible reply. 

“Usually he just says stuff about the other kids. That’s not okay, it’s never okay to say something about someone behind their back and I usually tell him off for it but I don’t get that mad because it’s not personal. But today... He just- he insulted you and Peter .” Harley stuttered, folding his hands in his lap and staring at them. “I couldn’t let him get away with that.” He muttered.

“You were right not to,” Tony said. His grip around the chair arm was so tight that he was worried he might snap the plastic.

“Harley, can you tell me how long this has been going on for?” The principal asked, taking out a pen and a small yellow notepad.

“I don’t know,” Harley says. “Honestly, I don’t, but it’s been a while.”

“And has our friend Jonah here been in any other physical altercations that you were aware of?”

“There have been a few,” Harley nods. “But none that have been too serious I stopped them too quickly.”

The principal nodded, still not showing any emotion towards either of the students and turned to the indignant looking mother near him. “Were you aware of any of this Miss Walker?” He asked, pen balance between two fingers.

The woman’s mouth was hanging open in surprise and, for a moment, she seemed to be in a speechless state of shock. 

“This is ridiculous! Miss Walker shouted. There is no way that my son would do anything like this. That boy is lying!” She pointed her acrylic back at Harley.

Tony cleared his throat, looking up at her with a fire in his eyes. “My son,” he growled, “would never intentionally harm another person, physically or emotionally, without a good, damn reason.”

Miss Walker opened her mouth to speak once again but was cut off by Tony before she could.

“Now, I am not sure how things work in your household, but in my house we stick by each other. We know not to treat only each other nicely and with respect, but everyone else as well and I suggest you try and teach your son to behave the same way before he turns out to be any more of a monster than he already is.” 

Miss Walker squawked, hefted her purse roughly onto her shoulder and yanked her son up by his wrist before pulling him out the front door. Tony swore he could hear her stomping all the way out to their car.

“Mr. Stark,” the principal said, “I apologize. The Walker family has had students in our school for generations, forgive me for not suspecting them of any bad intentions. I realize I should have seen the signs sooner.”

“I’m just glad that the situation has been brought to light,” Tony says in his best paparazzi voice. Harley nearly giggles but besides him. “Will he be all right to get going now?” He asked, somewhat impatiently.

The principal looked a little shocked at the easy forgiveness and was quick to scoop up the papers littering his desk as a way to busy himself and avoid the three pairs of eyes staring at him expectantly. Y-Yes, of course,” he stuttered.

Tony nodded, satisfied and stood up, lifting Peter to his hip once again and offering his hand for Harley to help the boy out of his seat. Once they were in the hall Harley turned to him, eyes wide like they had been before and asked timidly:

“You’re not mad?” Tony snorted. 

“Mad? Of course I’m not mad! You did the right thing Harls, there isn’t any denying that.” He assured. 

Reaching out with greedy hands, Peter demanded that Harley take him instead. Tony laughed at the show because, really, the boys had only been separated for about four hours. Still, Harley took him without complaint as Tony pushed open the doors for him.

Settling into the car, Tony smiled at the pair and asked:

“Do you think the ice scream shop is open on Thursday’s?”

Both boys beamed in response.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! And sticking around through my lies about upload times. 
> 
> If anyone has any dying wishes and really, really wants to give me some prompts for this AU then I'll take them into consideration (no promises though). Also, please tell me what you are thinking so far, I feel like I'm loosing my mojo.
> 
> Comments, kudos and constructive criticism are my coffee!
> 
> .... and I'm really tired ;)


End file.
